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ISSUE 2002a

Race In Space
Camille Turner
Toronto new media artist and curator Camille Turner explores the concept of race in a technological world. From her own pratice, she discusses the racial myths in Suit of Armour, a DVD collaboration with media artist Nancy Paterson. Continuing from this, she calls reference to the "Race in Digital Space" conference held in April 2001 at MIT: the works and thoughts of Nolan Bowie, Lisa Nakamura, Mongrel and Electronic Disturbance Theater fuel her inquiry of race, gender, identity and technology.

ISSUE 2001a

The Aesthetics of Technical Difficulty
Mark Jones
By the aesthetics of technical difficulty, I don't mean the artistic failure of the actual work itself from a critical point of view, but rather the result of what happens when your computers crash, your internet connection goes down, or your data projector blows up.

You Too Can Be Part of the Emergency Crew - Michelle Teran's Art: Finding Connection in Disconnected Space
Mark Jones
One of the much touted truisms of the Internet is that through it we are enabled to become better connected to other people in distant places. A person in one country can talk to another far away about as easily as they could with a person next door. This, the theory goes, helps the human race to view itself as being part of a larger global community in which borders dissolve and people connect based on something closer to who they really are and what they really need.

The Godfather of Art and Technology: An Interview with Billy Kluver of E.A.T.
Garnet Hertz
Working in collaboration with such artists as Robert Raushenberg, Andy Warhol, and Robert Whitman, Billy Kluver was at the forefront of the "Art and Technology" movement of the late 1960's. In an attempt to bring artists and engineers together, Kluver -- a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering -- formed Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) with Robert Rauschenberg in 1966. Still directing Experiments in Art and Technology after thirty years, Kluver explains the inspiration, formation, and operation of the group -- and shares some of his views of technology and art.

E-Mail From Carl
Mark Jones
If you ever find yourself doing research in virtual reality, chances are you will come across the name Carl Eugene Loeffler. Loeffler is a pioneer in combining telecommunications with art...

Stelarc: Still Hanging Around
Mark Jones
To watch Australian performance artist Stelarc play a video of his suspension performances -- in which he hangs naked from flesh-piercing hooks attached to ropes -- is a bit like voluntarily running your long fingernails down the surface of a clean blackboard...

Beyond the Realm of Humans: An Interview with Mark Pauline of S.R.L.
Garnet Hertz
Leading the San-Francisco-based "Survival Research Laboratories", Mark Pauline has distinguished himself as one of the pioneers of large-scale machine-based performance. Since starting S.R.L. in 1979, Pauline has directed nearly fifty shows -- scavenging and incorporating technology from the silicon valley into a massive spectacle of steel, hydraulics, flame, power, and fear.

Howard Rhiengold's Virtual Reality
Mark Jones
Meeting Howard Rheingold can't be too far off from going on a psychedelic trip. On the evening I finally met him face to face, he was wearing a deep purple shirt, rainbow suspenders, bright red pants and jacket, a pair of boots he had painted multicolour designs on, and a funky fedora.

Brenda Laurel: the technodiva speaks
Mark Jones
Brenda Laurel has become the technodiva of technology. Her views on human-computer interaction are some of the most widely-quoted in the field today, and given her theories it is no surprise that her original background is not in computers, but theatre. She brings a fresh perspective to the commonly-thought cold relationship between humans and their machines.

Emerging trends in culture and technology point to the advancement of anti-hype. Convergence has been superceded by the 'collision' between business, artists, government and the general public.

Coretext is about the linkages and tensions between art, electronic culture and the world in which it exists. In it, we feature artists who use electronic media in their work and the surrounding discourse of art and technology within its socio-political environment.

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Editors:
Mark Jones, cyberstage.org
Garnet Hertz, conceptlab.com